The European Space Agency (ESA) is using CFD in the design of enviromental control facilites in the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and to predict gas impingement forces in the sensitive Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).

The ATV is used for delivering equipment and consumables to the ISS and for orbital re-boosting when the ISS has lost altitude due to atmospheric friction.
The Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) module, located at the front of the ATV, carries dry cargo which is placed in up to 8 racks mounted in the cylindrical portion of the ICC.

The ICC does not have an advanced enviromental control system, but does have a cabin fan designed to guarantee good ventilation and to ensure an adequate air distribution for crew comfort. Another primary goal of the fan is to avoid any stagnant flow regions in which toxic gases could accumulate and pose a suffocation threat to the astronauts. In addition, the air speed should be always lower than 0.25 m/s in the crew cabin, whereas the air temperature should be less than 28°C, but more than the minimum dew temperature of 16°C. Also, the 'touch temperatures' of surfaces exposed to the crew should not exceed 45°C.

Rather than build an expensive experimental apparatus to test the flow field in the ICC, ESA turned to CFDRC for CFD software which could be used to predict the flow field within the ICC.

Researchers at USA Swimming have been using FLUENT to model the flow around the hand and forearm of a swimmer during the propulsive phases of the freestyle and butterfly strokes. The program aims to determine the optimum swim stroke to provide maximum propulsive performance for elite swimmers.

During the initial stage of the investigation, researchers sought to determine the steady-state lift and drag coefficients for the hand and arm. The model for these simulations used k-epsilon turbulence modeling with non-equilibrium wall functions. Adaptive meshing was utilized to increase solution accuracy.

Team New Zealand, which as we previously reported is backed by SGI, has now received support from AEA Technology as the official CFD supplier to the team for the 2003 America's Cup challenge.

As defending champions, having won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000, Team New Zealand hopes that CFX CFD software will enable them to achieve a third consecutive win - ensuring the team a place in the record books.

To improve the yacht's performance, Team New Zealand designers will be modelling wave patterns and drag around the hull. In particular, CFX is being used to calculate the drag on the keel bulb. A number of different keel bulb shapes are being examined to determine a design which provides the lowest center of gravity while minimizing drag. In addition, the team is studying induced drag on the appendages and using CFX to model sail aerodynamics.

AEA Technology has announced an alliance with PCA Engineers Limited
to offer a combined range of turbomachinery design software and services. PCA Engineers Limited is an international engineering consultancy specialising in design of turbomachinery and the development of turbomachinery design software. The agreement finalizes a working relationship which has spanned many years.

According to Dr.-Ing. Georg Scheuerer, CFX European Operations Director: “This Alliance will link both companies’ aspirations in turbomachinery design and analysis consultancy, turbomachinery design software and the development of advanced systems such as unsteady aero-mechanical software”.

CFD engineers at Opel have streamlined the simulation process for vehicle external aerodynamics. Their aim is to produce high-accuracy CFD predictions in the shortest turn-around time.

Opel utilizes a CAE database which allows the engineers to quickly extract components, such as the base chassis, external mirrors, and spoilers, and combine them into a CAD model. The pre-processing software ANSA is then used to produce a triangular surface mesh. Generation of the volume mesh is done using a variety of tools including Fluent's TGrid and GAMBIT mesh generators. Prism layers are utilized to provide good resolution of the viscous boundary layer and the remaining volume is filled with tetrahedra. Non-conformal interfaces are used to handle difficult geometry such as external mirrors, underbody, and side window steps.